"THE SAUDI ARABIA OF

"THE SAUDI ARABIA OF MINERALS"

Scott Pelley’s excellent report on CBS magazine program, “60 Minutes,” on the causes of the “civil” war in Eastern Congo (it’s more a multinational war), is worth sitting through. Pelley refers to Congo as the “Saudi Arabia of minerals” because of its deposits of gold, tin, copper and coltan.” More than 5 million have died in this war since mid-1996. Pelley also tries to put US retailers of gold jewelry on the spot, but gets some vague answers. (Of the major gold retailers in the US, only one could say with certainty where its gold originates.)